About this opportunity
Salient Systems lists this Hardware Product & Program Manager opportunity in austin, Texas. Review the employer’s description below for duties, qualifications and application requirements.
Job description
Good video security software still needs somewhere reliable to record. At Salient, that means making thoughtful choices about the hardware underneath CompleteView: what we offer, how it performs, what it costs, and how long a customer can count on it.
We’re looking for a Hardware Product & Program Manager to own our recording-platform portfolio and help shape a new way of bringing those platforms to market. Salient Systems makes CompleteView, an open video management platform for organizations managing security across many sites. We don’t require customers to buy our recording hardware, but we offer it for those who want a validated platform. Today that portfolio includes PowerProtect, based on Dell platforms, and Vantage, built with a contract manufacturer.
At first, you’ll spend most of your time on hardware product management: the roadmap, platform configurations, performance and cost tradeoffs, lifecycle decisions, and a dependable source of product specifications. Over roughly the next two years, more of your work will be building a certified-manufacturer program: a model in which qualified partners can build and sell Salient-certified platforms under license, with commercial terms and reporting that work in practice.
It is a way to broaden from strong platform product management into commercial and program leadership, with outcomes you can point to on both sides.
Set the platform direction.
Own a rolling roadmap for PowerProtect and Vantage, including platform tiers, configurations, and when to add, consolidate, or retire a SKU. Work with Engineering to identify the performance questions worth testing, interpret the results, and make product calls that balance workload, reliability, availability, and margin.
Establish clear policies for support windows, end-of-life notice, last-time buys, spares, and migration paths. Stay ahead of component and operating-system changes, and give Sales, Support, OEM partners, and customers time to act. A hardware change can mean a visit to a customer’s site, so the notice matters as much as the spreadsheet.
Own validated specifications for shipping configurations and help turn the current source of truth into a structured system. Keep datasheets, price books, quoting tools, the website, and sizing guidance aligned with it. we just don’t want it to be the only thing that knows which configuration is current.
Own the commercial tradeoffs.
Manage BOM-cost targets, pricing structure, and margin by platform. Work with Finance and Operations on forecasts and inventory exposure, and make sensible calls when component costs or supply conditions change.
Help recruit and qualify partners, define what certification requires, shape licensing and royalty terms, and make the reporting auditable without making the program impossible to operate. The goal is a repeatable commercial model, not a nice-looking partner slide.
Work closely with contract manufacturers, OEM partners, Engineering, Operations, Sales, and Support, including visits with manufacturing and OEM partners. You’ll be the person people turn to for a clear answer about the platforms, and you’ll build the systems that make those answers easier to find.
About five or more years managing networked or appliance-class hardware products, such as servers, recorders, or gateways, through launch, revision, and end of life.
Firsthand accountability for platform cost, price, and margin, as well as the judgment to make tradeoffs when the numbers and the technical ideal disagree.
Experience with product qualification, performance evidence, component substitutions, and lifecycle decisions.
Experience working with OEMs, ODMs, or contract manufacturers, including the practical details of specifications and build changes.
Experience building or running a partner, certification, licensing, or other commercially accountable program, or a strong track record that shows you can take on that next step.
Writing and communication that make a roadmap, policy, or business case useful to both executives and technical teams.
Video security experience, familiarity with channel sales, and experience guiding a hardware portfolio through a structural change would all be useful. There is a roadmap for both product lines, a lifecycle policy people can actually use, and a dependable path from validated specs to customer-facing information. Platform pricing and margin decisions are deliberate rather than reactive. The certified-manufacturer program has clearer qualification and commercial mechanics and is beginning to generate measurable royalty revenue.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Salient Systems is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, color, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws.
This policy applies to all employment practices within our organization, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and transfer.
Who can apply
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